Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) led the
nonviolent resistance movement that eventually led to India's
independence from Britain in 1947. Although his birth name was
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, he was given the name of Mahatma, meaning
“great soul,” during his years of activism in South Africa. In
India, he is also known as bapu (father). Gandhi has inspired freedom
and civil rights movements around the world.

Mahatma Gandhi was born into the Hindu
faith and is said to have practiced Karma yoga, the yoga of action.

Yogapedia explains Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi was advised by yogis of his
time, including Sri Mahadev Desai, who helped him perform asanas. He also practiced pranayama breathing exercises and
relied on mantras and
meditation.

His activism took a particular form of
nonviolence that he called satyagraha, or “insistence on
truth.” According to Gandhi, the doctrine of satyagraha is
that satya (truth) exists, but asatya (untruth) does
not; therefore, truth cannot be destroyed. He believed that it was through patience and compassion that his opponents would gradually come to
see the truth.

As an immigrant, Mahatma Gandhi began
his activism in South Africa in the early 1900s, returning to his
native land after World War I to support India's freedom. He was
best remembered for wearing only a loincloth and shawl, for his
hunger strikes to protest injustices and for peaceful non-cooperation
that led to his several arrests. He was assassinated by a Hindu
fundamentalist less than a year after India's independence.